Annette Crosbie: I'm not grumpy, just deaf! How the actress overcame her 'moodiness' with the help of hearing aids

Having become a household name as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering wife, Annette Crosbie is accustomed to people assuming she's somewhat grumpy.

Indeed, the Bafta-winning actress freely admits that, along with her great friend and One Foot In The Grave co-star Richard Wilson, she has irritated her fair share of people by bluntly ignoring their attempts to spark up a conversation.

What has never been revealed before, however, is that the 76-year-old is not deliberately snubbing anyone. She, quite simply, cannot hear them.

TV greats: Annette Crosbie and co-star Richard Wilson both discovered they were becoming hard of hearing while filming One Foot In The Grave

'I have been quite deaf in both ears for a decade now,' she says. 'If I take my hearing aids out, I can't hear my dogs barking right next to me.

'Unfortunately, this is often misinterpreted as rudeness or grumpiness. I'm sure a lot of people I've unwittingly come across in life have thought "what's her problem?" because I haven't actually heard something they've said to me. Richard is exactly the same. He wears hearing aids now.

'We both went deaf while we were filming One Foot - we used to talk about it all the time - but it took him years to do anything about it. Typical man!'

There are more than four million people in Britain 'in denial' about their hearing, says Roger Wicks, of the Royal National Institute For Deaf People (RNID).

'Through our research, people have told us they are worried to admit to hearing loss or are in denial about it because they link it to the process of ageing.

'I hate the notion that there should be any stigma attached to wearing
hearing aids'

'Incredibly, it still takes people an average of ten years to take action about a loss of hearing, even though it can lead to loss of confidence, isolation and impact on family life. The earlier a problem is addressed, the easier it is to adapt to wearing a hearing aid.'

The charity believes a national hearing screening programme could help to tackle the stigma and give those suffering from the condition the hearing aids they need.

Annette refuses to feel stigmatised and is disarmingly frank about the first time she went to have hearing aids fitted. She remembers the female specialist who suggested that Annette should grow her hair to cover up the devices.

'As if it was something to be ashamed of or embarrassed about! I thought about it for a few seconds and said: "F*** it!"' she snorts.

So why has her hearing loss never come to light before?

'Because nobody has ever asked me to talk about it,' she shrugs. 'I'm speaking out now because I hate the notion that there should be any stigma attached to wearing hearing aids.

'The RNID is working hard to change that, which is marvellous, so anything I can do to raise awareness is no trouble at all.'

The RNID aims to make hearing aids no more remarked upon than reading glasses. Yet Annette concedes that some people find it easier to broach the subject than others.

'As soon as my hearing started to go I did something about it. But most men aren't like that - and Richard certainly wasn't,' she says, with a wicked guffaw.

'A terrible fear for the male must be that they are losing control. That is why they won't ask for directions and why they don't ask questions. It's the way they are wired.

'We were filming One Foot when I first realised my hearing was going. It was around 16 years ago and I was 60 at the time,' she says.

'In conversation around the table in the canteen I would keep saying: "I'm sorry?" I realised I was losing track of the conversations.

'I went to the specialist quite quickly. It didn't come as any great surprise to me that I was going deaf because my dad's family had gone deaf in later life and, as a child, I remember having to shout to make myself heard.

'I was fitted for hearing aids and, of course, it helped. I've had them for about a decade and in that time they have become much smaller and less obtrusive. You can't see I'm wearing them.'

Annette at home with her greyhounds: Without her hearing aids in, she can't hear them barking

But many aspects of her life changed. 'The big, jolly canteen lunches, which had been a part of my daily working life, are impossible for me now, because of the background noise,' she says.

Hearing-aid users often find background noise irksome because their devices are unable to filter the sounds they want to hear - such as conversations - from noises they don't, such as screeching tyres and clattering dishes.

The social isolation caused by deafness is clearly hard for Annette. Now, she eats alone or in very small groups, and visits to restaurants are a thing of the past.

She admits to avoiding functions, such as the Baftas (at which she won the Best Actress award in 1976) 'like the plague'.

It is a rare sign of vulnerability from a woman who refuses to wallow in self pity.

Indeed, one of the reasons for her hearing loss not being widely recognised is that she has continued to work at such a prolific rate. In the past couple of years, she has played a leading role in the Radio 4 comedy Old Harry's Game and made memorable appearances in Doctor Who and the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit.

'Oh, it's easy to work!' she exclaims. 'You've learned the lines so people know what you are going to say and you know what they are going to say. It's got to be the easiest job to have if you're deaf. The script is in front of you so you can relax.

'What actually embarrasses people - and I wish it didn't - is the fact I wear a hearing aid in each ear.

'On Little Dorrit, a couple of years ago, I kept the hearing aids in because I knew it was going to be noisy on set and the wig more or less covered them up.

'But there was one scene where I was being shot from behind and it seemed to be going on for ever.

'Being deaf really hits home at family gatherings, when there are
children, grandchildren and in-laws whom you really want to see, the conversation goes away from you'

'The crew kept fiddling with my wig until I finally realised what was going on and said: "Would you like me to take the hearing aids out?" The relief was palpable.

'Everyone was too embarrassed to bring it up, which is a shame. Worst of all are the announcements on public transport over the Tannoy. I I cannot make out a single word, so I have to ask strangers for help.

'And if you're living in London, as I do, that stranger probably doesn't speak English, and if they do they will speak with an accent, which complicates things. And you think: "I wish I hadn't started this."'

If this comes across as a tad Meldrew-esque, it is more an expression of frustration at her own limitations, rather than railing at the world in general.

Annette's hearing loss, like most people's, is age-related and irreversible. There might be a genetic link, so that if your parents suffered from age-related hearing loss, you are more likely to be affected - and possibly at an earlier age than others.

The deafness itself is caused by the degeneration of the microscopic hairs in the ear, which pick up sound waves, along with the cells in the inner ear.

The effects of the condition can be exacerbated by long-term exposure to loud noises, leading to initial difficulty making out high-pitched sounds followed by problems keeping up with speech patterns.

Annette admits that as the condition rapidly worsened, she withdrew to the familiar surroundings of the home near Wimbledon Common, in South West London, where she raised her son Owen Griffiths, 39, and daughter Selina Griffiths, 40.

Long since divorced from her husband, she shares her home with three beloved greyhounds.

'But when it really hits home is at family gatherings, when there are children, grandchildren and in-laws whom you really want to see.

'The conversation goes away from you because somebody at the other end of the table says something, you don't hear and you realise you've lost it.

'There is no point in even asking because everyone's getting on fine and having a great time, so you just withdraw and wait for the conversation to end.'

The challenges posed by hearing loss frequently lead to depression - and she admits to becoming 'pretty fed up' at times. But she swiftly reprimands herself. 'It just seems so ridiculous to sit there complaining about going deaf when there are so many far worse things which could go wrong with you.'

But she is determined to be frank about her deafness to help reduce the embarrassment associated with the condition.

'For some reason, a lot of so-called celebrities are reluctant to admit to hearing loss, but it is incredibly common,' she concludes. 'The only way we're going to tackle the stigma is if we are straightforward and honest. If that comes across as being grumpy, then so be it.'